Use of the term "Mayor" was stricken as a ballot designation for Los Alamitos Councilman Ken Parker in an Order signed yesterday by Orange County Superior Court Judge Jamoa Moberly.
Under California law, a ballot title must accurately state the primary vocation, occupation or profession of the candidate, is limited to three words, and cannot be misleading. A "Mayor" in a general law city and some charter law cities using a city manager form of government, is a position by statute that is essentially ceremonial, and the Mayor’s major statutory function is chairing councilmeetings. A Mayor in these cities is not elected by the public and does not receive any special compensation or have any other specific duties.
For many years courts rejected the use of the term "Mayor" in ballot titles for councilmembers running for reelection during their rotational year as Mayor, until Huntington Beach Councilmember Debbie Cook (and a rotational Mayor), in the face of a lawsuit filed by some Republican lawyers, convinced a Judge earlier this year to allow her to use the title in her race against Congressman Dana Rohrabacher for the U.S. Congress.
The "Cook" case was seen by some as opening the door to widespread use of the term in future, by rotational Mayors. However, the Los Alamitos case has proven that facts determine the use of the term, and when lawyers have facts in hand, they can help defeat its use.
In the Cook case, she was able to show evidence that her entire vocational life was devoted to being Mayor of Huntington Beach. Legally, that was a stretch to be able to use the term "Mayor" under the circumstances, but she got away with it. In the Los Alamitos case, Bruce Peotter and I teamed-up to represent Petitioner Charles Sylvia, a retired Councilman, and successfully challenged Parker’s use of the term by developing facts that demonstrated his service as Mayor was minimal, and not a primary aspect of his professional, occupational or vocation life. The evidence we put forward included Parker’s annual FPPC Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests, which made no mention of the position of Mayor, yet did disclose income from his tax accountancy firm; planning commission documents that demonstrated he has an active private business in Los Alamitos; a photograph of a billboard display sign for his business in the City; and the declaration of Sylvia, a 26-year verteran of the City Council who had served as Mayor four times previously, who testified that the job took hardly any of his time.
In a settlement, incorporated into the Judge’s Order, Petitioner agreed to Parker’s use of the term "Councilman" to replace "Mayor," as part of his three word designation "Councilman/Tax Preparer." Parker also was forced to drop use of the word "Businessowner," as one of his words, because it is actually two words and would have exceeded the statutory three word limit. And a reference in Parker’s candidate statement of qualifications mentioning the name of another candidate in the same race, in a positive way, was also stricken.
Candidates and their lawyers who care about ballot designations should not consider the "Cook" case a precedent for use of the term Mayor in future by ceremonial Mayors; rather, they need to look at and really develop the facts at hand, which are the key to the eventual outcome.